No cap on the number of pot shops in the province, but large cannabis producers can only have one apiece

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Ontario announced retail cannabis rules Wednesday.

Ontario officials unveiled a sweeping set of rules late Wednesday that will govern the retail portion of cannabis sales in Canada’s most populous province.

As MarketWatch reported ahead of the announcement, the province made an official statement Wednesday after the market closed and plans to introduce a bill in the provincial legislature Thursday. The last of Canada’s provinces to put forth a regulatory structure, Ontario is expected to be the biggest customer for recreational marijuana: It accounted for more than 40% of cannabis sales in the country last year, according to StatisticsCanada.

“Canada has a long history of doing things slowly but really well,” Jeremy Potvin, co-founder of Weedbox said. Weedbox is preparing to open retail locations in Ontario that Potvin says will eventually be the LuluLemon of pot. “[Canada] makes decisions for the long term, we make decisions for how is it going to look for Canada in 20 years. I think this going to be a win for consumers. Retail is tough, you better know what you’re doing.”

The new set of regulations, if passed, will include a licensing scheme that will be run by the provincial Alcohol and Gaming Commission. Even though the retail shops will be operated by private companies, they will have to buy cannabis from the provincial government, finance minister Victor Fedeli said at a news conference Wednesday.

Government officials also said that the legislation would not include a cap on the total number of pot shops in the province, but it would limit federally licensed producers such as Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB, -4.18% ACBFF, -4.51%Canopy Growth Corp. WEED, -4.94% CGC, -4.92% , and Tilray Inc. TLRY, +3.50% to one retail location each. Aurora, which reported earnings Monday and plans 37 retail locations in Alberta, closed down 4% Wednesday, Canopy fell 1.4% and Tilray rose roughly 6%.

“No cap is a win for consumers,” Potvin said. “For retailers there’s going to be kind of a street fight.”

The changes to the regulatory scheme were widely anticipated after the Progressive Conservative party took power earlier this year and announced that the government would no longer oversee bricks-and-mortar retail sales as it does with liquor. Instead, the province will exclusively run online cannabis sales, which will be the only way to purchase marijuana legally in the province until April, when retail stores will be allowed to open.

When asked at a news conference Wednesday, the minister of finance said that the online store would begin selling pot Oct 17, but it will not accept pre-orders ahead of that date.

Municipalities that wish to opt-out of having cannabis shops open within their boundaries will have until Jan. 22, 2019, to do so, Ontario officials said. Those operating illegal cannabis sales operations after Oct. 17 when cannabis becomes legal across Canada will not be eligible to obtain licenses. People in Ontario will not be allowed to smoke cannabis or use vaporizers anywhere where it is currently illegal to smoke cigarettes.

Ontario used C$2.23 billion worth of cannabis in 2017, according to Statistics Canada, more than 40% of the total for the country. The government agency has estimated that Canadians will spend about C$1 billion on pot during the fourth quarter, once the drug is legal for adult use.

TORONTO – Ontario residents will be able to smoke recreational cannabis wherever the smoking of tobacco is permitted, the Progressive Conservative government said Wednesday, loosening rules established by the previous Liberal regime.

The government will also not put a cap on pot shops when it starts licensing and regulating the province’s private cannabis retail marketplace, and municipalities will have until January to opt out of hosting the stores.

The details were announced by Ontario Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Finance Minister Vic Fedeli a day before new legislation on pot rules was set to be tabled.

Under previous consumption rules, those over 19 would have only been able to smoke cannabis in a private Ontario residence when pot becomes legal Oct. 17. The proposed legislation eases the regulations to allow marijuana to be smoked in the same places as cigarettes.

“We’re aligning with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act,” Mulroney said, referencing the provincial set of rules on tobacco use. “If you’re able to smoke tobacco in your home then you’ll be able to use cannabis as well.”

Smoking pot in vehicles or boats that are being operated will be prohibited. Breaking the rules would see people subjected to fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 upon conviction.

The government announced last month that it would sell recreational cannabis online when it is legalized next month, with private retail stores set to be in place by April next year.

On Wednesday, the province said the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will regulate the marketplace, giving it the power to grant – and potentially revoke – licences as well as enforce provincial rules on cannabis sales.

Ontario government will make cannabis available online starting Oct. 17

The province said that anyone looking to open a pot shop will have to apply for both a retail-operator licence and a retail store authorization for each potential location.

“We want to make sure the consumers are protected but we want to open up the marketplace,” Fedeli said. “This is an opportunity for small business to get involved. We want to have as many participants as possible be involved.”

Breaching provincial rules on cannabis sales would preclude someone from ever obtaining a licence in the future, the government said.

“Any engagement with organized crime, any record of providing youth cannabis, any of that would bar you from participating in the private cannabis market,” Fedeli said. “If you are still operating an illegal retail operation after Oct. 17, you would not be able to get a licence in Ontario.”

A government agency called the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp. is slated to handle the online cannabis sales and will also be the wholesaler to private retail stores.

Ontario municipalities that want to opt out of hosting pot shops will have until Jan. 22, 2019 to do so under the new legislation. The province would also have the ability to set a distance buffer between pot shops and schools.

The previous Liberal government had planned to give the Liquor Control Board of Ontario a monopoly on the sale of recreational cannabis, opening as many as 150 retail stores by 2020. Opposition critics have said they prefer a public sale model because LCBO staff have the experience and training to ensure socially responsible access.

Liberal legislator Nathalie Des Rosier said the Tories’ new model could result in a large number of pot shops springing up that will be a challenge to regulate.

“It certainly is a complete free market that may flood Ontario,” she said. “The cautious approach that we had used is a little bit undermined here.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner lauded the Tory plan, but cautioned the government to keep its focus on small business and not large corporations in the pot market.

“The cannabis market should not be a windfall for large corporate players with inside access to the premier’s office,” Schreiner said in a statement. “I will be standing up for small, Ontario-owned businesses and job creators. I will also be standing up for Indigenous communities to be involved in the cannabis market.”

Robert Schwartz, a University of Toronto professor specializing in cannabis distribution and public health, said the government’s move to align consumption rules around the laws that already apply to tobacco consumption make sense.

“It’s going to create challenges for people who live in multi-unit dwellings, but it’s already a challenge,” he said. “There are already a lot of people in these dwellings who are complaining about second-hand smoke from cannabis and therefore there are some condominiums that are going smoke-free completely which is a good thing.”

Schwartz, who is also the executive director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, said the government needs to stress to people that smoking cannabis is not healthy.

“It’s really important to communicate to people that they should not be smoking,” he said. “They should be using it in another ways. Preferably, you’d have a distinction between smoking and vaping, not that vaping is benign but it’s undoubtedly better than smoking.”

That,s good news, reminder to those who are making plans to come back
The shops will not be open till April 1 2019 ,only mail order in Ontario till then
On the other hand going to make 420 here the place too be

there is a 30 gram possession limit in public, but NO LIMIT to the amount you can possess on property. Can have thousands of grams and oz and lbs... no limit.....YET

there is a 4 plant max per household, not per person per house...but those plants could be tree size... as long as they are on your property

the rules are really quite liberal, but the launch of the system has been on the cautious side, allowing room to control but also gage the overall market before allowing private retail.

i believe this is a method of understanding by the province... by that i mean they will get the stats of the first 6 months and will be better able to assist the max tax threshold to max sales and provincial income.

That said, they had months even longer to be prepared... and hahah they fucked that up

got my new prescription... prices for same strains are $2-3 cheaper direct from the LP